Programme 5

The number one criteria when buying a house is location and our fifth programme of the series is set in one of the most sought after costal parts of the country, Dalkey. Playground to the rich and famous, where celebrities such as to Bono & Neil Jordan can regularily be spotted.

Enda and Paula Roche have landed their dream home, well almost. With an amazing location their 1950's six bedroom house is ready for a major architectural re:design and with a very generous back garden (currently hosting seven outbuildings), Paula has her heart set on her own bespoke private pilates studio.

After living in London for ten years and travelled the world, Enda says "it's the end of the journey, the roots are now down". The couple bought the house in 2009 and Dermot is horrified by the layout: "The whole house is disgusting. It needs to be brought into the 21st century."

He's not exaggerating. The house is damp, old fashioned and has a series of long oddly-shaped downstairs rooms, with wildly varying levels and ceiling heights. Upstairs, the couple are prepared to sacrifice two rooms in exchange for larger ensuite bedrooms.

Dermot sets out to realign the main house with the back garden and presents his design on budget however unbeknown to Dermot, his client Enda is prepared to exceed the ¤200K budget by a further ¤50,000 in return for something 'extra special'

The design is agreed for a budget of ¤250k however over the next couple of months, Dermot's clients decide to put even more 'extra special' requests on the list- extra bedrooms, extra ensuites, a walk in wardrobe and a porch and as a result, the budget rises accordingly.

The first setback arrives when the tenders go out and return - ranging from ¤434K to an even more sobering ¤530K. Eight months into the process Dermot has to return to the drawing board, everything is redesigned and scaled back to the original budget.

Even when the scaled down build begins (strictly policed by Dermot), up creeps the clients list of additions AGAIN, causing enormous pressure on the builder to complete on time. It becomes clear that these clients are not in the habit of sticking to any plan.
In what turns out to be an extremely challenging project for their & architect, there will be changes, and plenty of them. Will this dream house ever meet the standards deserved of Dalkey?

Watch 'Room to Improve' on Wednesday 12th October at 8.00pm on RTÉ One.

For more information on the new series of Room to Improve please contact Hilary O'Donovan at COCO Television on 01-4970817 / 087 2471190 or email info@cocotelevision.ie